Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Something That Obviously Doesn't Exist...


...and yet here it sits on my desk...a package of First Comics E-Man stickers! feel like the Joe Staton art on the header card is recycled from a subscription ad or somesuch, so it doesn't necessarily imply that there are matching American Flagg!, Jon Sable, Freelance, and...God help us all... WARP sticker sets! On the other hand, those aren't that much less likely. Any of you folks out there in cyberspace ever seen these?
   I've got to say that, if you're actually an E-Man fan, these are kinda disappointing, with your only actual art featuring the titular hero being tiny reproductions of one cover and a house ad, while Teddy Q gets comparative star treatment. I don't know how these would look to the hypothetical non-fan sticker collector during that era's sticker craze, but maybe an authority in that area will chime in in the comments.

4 comments:

Shawn Robare said...

There were at least a set of American Flagg! stickers:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2589/4118870606_526559414d_o.jpg

I have to agree that the stickers are kind of bland. I've never been all that much of a fan of postage stamp sized comic covers as stickers (or movie posters for that matter.) I don't mind re-purposed art though.

I have to give the company credit though, this is sort of genius marketing. 1984 is pretty much ground zero for the insanity in sticker collecting, and if any of these made their way outside of the realm of comics specialty stores than they were probably plastered all over lockers and notebooks showcasing comics just waiting to be purchased. Unfortunately they probably didn't make it past comic shops so they most likely ended up as novelty purchases stuck between comics that are gathering dust in an attic or basement somewhere.

I completely missed out on First Comics while collecting in the 80s. There's so much stuff I need to acquaint myself with.

Devlin Thompson said...

So...same set-up:first issue cover, house ad, and lots of Teddy Q.They clearly didn't put a lot of thought and effort into this, did they? You're right that they definitely picked the right year to do this-- indeed, probably the only year in recorded history that you might hope to at least break even with such a slapdash product based on such an unlikely set of licenses for the target market. I hope they didn't walk out of that year's Licensing Fair thinking they'd made a real coup securing the First properties. It reminds me of the time that I was looking at a 1992 Ben Cooper costume catalog and discovered why the Rat Fink costume was so hard to come by. Y'see, it was part of an assortment of licensed characters consisting of •James Bond, Jr.
•Peter Pan
(from Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates),
•Rat Fink,
and
•Raggedy Andy.
Obviously, this was doomed. And, if I recall correctly, that's Ben Cooper's last year of production. Still, at least the Rat Fink was nice.

Patrick M said...

you know, i bet you're the only person on earth currently trying to figure out where to put 18 E-Man stickers!

KLON said...

Jimmy Castor had a record called E-Man Groovin'. It's no Bertha Butt Boogie though.